California’s spectacular state parks system — which ranges from statuesque redwoods to vast deserts and sweeping beaches — has hit some rough patches over the past five years with threatened parks closures, budget problems and even a famous drive-through giant sequoia tree falling down this winter in heavy storms.

But parks lovers are trying to inject some new visibility and money into the venerable system of 280 parks with a proposed commemorative license plate.

For the state Department of Motor Vehicles to begin producing the plate, which features an image of a redwood forest, it needs 7,500 prepaid orders by May 18.

As of last week, it had only 647, and environmental groups are ramping up efforts to sell as many as they can in the next two months.

“Our fingers are crossed,” said Sam Hodder, president of the Save the Redwoods League.

“It is a steep hill to climb,” he said, “but I believe the people of California love their state parks. If they are made aware of this opportunity to put their love on their license plates, I think they’ll welcome it.”

Since 1918 the league, a nonprofit group based in San Francisco, has preserved 200,000 acres of redwood forests — many of which were ancient trees more than 1,000 years old — that would have been cut down. The group has added them to state parks such as Big Basin, Butano, Portola Redwoods, Humboldt Redwoods, Jedediah Smith and Prairie Creek.

The state parks plates cost $50 for first issue and $40 each year after, and for personalized plates, $98 for first issue and $78 each year after. To order, go to https://parksplate.parks.ca.gov.

Any money raised if the plates qualify will fund specific state parks projects that the public can enjoy and appreciate, said Lisa Mangat, California’s state parks director.

“It will be used for new interpretive programs, new trails, and really defined purposes, and not just lumped into a big bucket of funding,” she said. “We want to track it and measure it and show the public what these parks plates have been able to support.”

California has 12 specialty license plates, ranging from a Yosemite plate that has raised $19.6 million for projects in Yosemite National Park to a recently approved Snoopy plate that raises money for California museums, to a whale-tail plate that has generated $26.5 million for coastal programs and a veterans plate that has raised $12.7 million for military veterans programs.

Together, they have raised a combined $217 million over the years, with the KIDS plate, featuring a small hand, having raised the most, $61.9 million, for child abuse prevention and children’s health issues.

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The redwoods plate was designed by Wyn Ericson, an artist and middle school teacher in Napa County. Ericson’s work won first prize in a contest in November 2015 to select the best plate, chosen by a panel that featured representatives from state parks, Save the Redwoods League, Sempervirens Fund and the California Natural Resources Agency.

The plate was authorized under a law that passed in 2012, and pushed by former state Assemblyman Jared Huffman of Marin County, who now is a member of the U.S. House of Representatives.

State law requires 7,500 plates to be ordered within a year for any specialized license plate to be printed. Backers of plates can get a one-year extension if needed, but the parks plate, which so far has not enjoyed the same level of attention as other plates, is in its extension period now.

If 7,500 plates are not pre-ordered by May 18, the money of people who ordered will be refunded.

California’s state park system began in 1864 when President Abraham Lincoln set aside part of Yosemite, including Mariposa Grove and Yosemite Valley, as a park under state protection (it later became a national park). The system began in earnest in 1902, when state lawmakers purchased redwoods in the Big Basin area after Andrew P. Hill, a San Jose photographer, launched a campaign to keep them from being cut down.

Today, California has arguably the finest state park system in the United States, with 340 miles of coastline, 970 miles of lake and river frontage, 15,000 campsites and 4,500 miles of trails. More than 67 million visitors a year visit places as varied as Hearst Castle, Anza Borrego Desert, Sutter’s Mill, Mount Diablo, Mount Tamalpais and the elephant seals of Año Nuevo on the San Mateo County coast.

But the system has struggled with funding shortfalls, a maintenance backlog estimated at $1.3 billion, and storms this winter, which have closed four parks in Big Sur and toppled the famous Pioneer Cabin Tree, a giant sequoia that generations of motorists drove through, at Calaveras Big Trees State Park in the Sierra foothills. State parks leaders are looking for a reboot in the years ahead to generate new excitement and support.

“The California state parks system only exists because members of the public came together and said these are special places that should be set aside and preserved for their children and their children’s children,” said Mangat. “We really think about that. Making the connections with the public is really key. Because without their support, we won’t exist in the future.”